RUMOR: Longtime OL Committment Out Of 2016 Class

I talked to a few sources in Ann Arbor tonight and it appears longtime Michigan OL commitment Erik Swenson will not be part of the 2016 class. Swenson committed to former Head Coach Brady Hoke in November of 2013 and until recently Michigan was prepared to honor his commitment. I’m told the Wolverine staff made the decision to move on from Swenson based on his lack of improvement since his commitment. Before you get upset with the staff for waiting so long to inform the kid, relax, I’m told Swenson has been told for some time his commitment was not guaranteed and that he should have a backup plan, which he seems to have according to sources who now believe he has had contact with the staff at Northwestern. The Wildcats could very well be his new team.

Many, myself included are more than a little taken aback by this news as Swenson was a loyal Wolverine prospect through the Head Coaching change but Harbaugh’s arrival is a game changer on every level. We’ve all read about the “competition” edict at Michigan and that appear to extend to recruits now as well. Harbaugh and his staff are in Ann Arbor to win and part of winning is making the tough decisions to ensure they recruit the best possible talent to Michigan.

As recently at January 3, 2016 Swenson was still excited about his spot in the class and looking forward to signing his LOI to play his next four years at The University of Michigan.

Harbaugh has to compete with Urban Meyer, Nick Saban and others at the same level, this is now “big boy football.” Just as players change their minds, coaches do too. Michigan fans who are indignant to this type of recruiting need to ask themselves, do you want to win or do you want to always be the “good guy?” Before you answer that question, check your social media posts from the past 7 years and tell me you were good with the results of the Wolverines under Rich Rod and Brady Hoke. The apparent late word to Swenson wasn’t that at all, he was well aware that he was on the radar and needed to show improvement during his senior year to keep his spot, apparently he didn’t achieve the goals set for him as a senior in high school, much like Matt Falcon who was told to skip his senior year in high school to rest his injured knee. Obviously Michigan would have taken Swenson if they didn’t have better options, that is a cold, hard fact, but at this point in the recruiting cycle Michigan appears to have a few options that they feel improve the football team more than Swenson. Does it suck? Yes. Is it a new normal, certainly! Welcome to the world of cut throat big time football.